"Excuse me, Mr. Finly. Could you sign this please?"

A tall Sheikah thrust a clipboard and pen under Link's nose, blocking his view out the plane window and disrupting his peaceful thoughts. With a tired smile and a sigh, he took the offered pen and scrawled a messy signature along the dotted line, his hand tired from the mountain of papers he had signed earlier. It seemed there was a never-ending supply of legal slips and loopholes to jump through just to transfer one archeologist.

Link pressed his forehead against the cool glass beside him, trying to ease his burning headache. It had been a surprise to him and all his colleagues when the summons came from headquarters. He had been doing research in the Wilds of Hyrule for over a year now, not once returning to the big city or ever planning to. He'd devoted all of his time to his research. Both excavating and exploring the ruins that scattered the uninhabited and nonindustrialized planes on the edges of the country. Mostly they were Sheikah ruins, huge cavernous structures filled with all kinds of puzzles and traps. He loved these the most. Each one brought a thrilling new challenge, the kind that didn't rely on modern technology, just the wit of a man. Of course, there were also ancient Hylian and Zoani. None of which were half as exciting as the Sheikah.

He loved his job, loved the freedom and thrill it provided. And yet here he was, on a plane and inching steadily towards the city rising up against the horizon. If it had been completely his choice, he would have stayed back in his small little camp. But one simply couldn't ignore a recall to headquarters for an 'urgent engagement'.

All too soon a light flashed above, signaling the passengers to put on their seatbelts. The few others in the spacious cabin scrambled to their seats, tucking laptops and loose papers hurriedly under their arms. The clicks of locks engaging rang out as the captain's muffled voice informed them they would be in Castle Town within the next few minutes.

Link watched the glittering city from the window. It was no doubt an impressive establishment. He'd grown up there for most of his life and it still awed him to see the massive buildings, and bustling streets, not to mention the massive skyscraper that was Harkinin Industries. It was impressive, yes, but nothing was going to make Link happy about being forced back. He'd take the open Wilds over the city any day.

The jet slowly began spiraling down, each passing second the sky being swallowed by the towering buildings. Link kept his eyes fixed on the massive headquarters of Harkinian Industries as they touched down, gliding to a smooth stop. He couldn't help but wonder what exactly was in store for him there.

Only moments after the engine turned off, shouts could be heard from the runway below as a small team immediately began unloading the artifacts stored in the hull. Link watched them run frantically about as the other passengers gathered their belongings in a rush. He almost forgot how frantic operations in the city were. Pushing himself from his seat, he slung his bag over his shoulder and leisurely walked to the door of the plane, taking his time down the boarding stairs, the city air already feeling thick in his lungs.

He looked around for a moment, people running past and even crashing into him. It took Link a moment to gather his bearings before he spotted a familiar woman. He sauntered over, the woman's tight bun flawless despite the strong wind, and small glasses perched crookedly on her sharp nose.

"Evening, Miss. Summa," Link gave a small salute and crooked smile.

She didn't notice him at first, being too busy screaming orders at a poor pair of personnel who were supposedly in the wrong spot. Link waited patiently for her to stop her screaming, then watched as she fixed her glasses and smoothed her already wrinkle-free jacket.

"Mr. Finly." she curtly nodded to him, not even glancing at his as she marked something down on her pad.

"I see you still have your charm," Link noted as someone stumbled past, glancing fearfully in the direction of the older woman.

"You will be staying in a suite at the Elde Plaza, room 809," Miss. Summa handed him a key card from her pocket, ignoring his comment and getting brashly to the point, "You will meet with the director tomorrow at eight o'clock. Sign in at the front desk, and for Hylia's sake don't be late." She handed him another small card, this one with the address and time for his appointment.

"Wait- I'm meeting with the director?"

The woman ignored him and turned to the small cart behind her, scooping up a large stack of papers, "Make sure these are filled out before then." She snapped at him, pushing the papers into his arms.

Link struggled to balance the sudden weight, nearly losing a few to the wind. He opened his mouth to ask his question again, but Miss. Summa was already off, yelling at more of the staff as they loaded heavy crates to be moved.

"Typical," Link muttered under his breath. Yet another reason he hated being stationed in the city. It was inevitable to be ignored, yelled at, or fired for no reason; sometimes all three. Not to mention the paperwork. He struggled, trying to position the heap of papers comfortably under his arm.

"Need some help?" a sweet voice asked.

Link whirled around to face the speaker, dropping some papers in the process.

"Oh!" she exclaimed.

They both scrambled to pick up the loose pages before the wind took them.

"I'll take that as a yes," the girl chuckled.

Link managed to nab the last one, awkwardly lumping them back into a pile. He finally glanced at the girl who was helping him, her slender hands brushing some loose pages into a stack.

"Some help would be great," he breathed out, exchanging smiles with her as she handed him her portion.

The two stood up, the girl tucking a strand of her long golden hair behind her pointed ear. Her eyes that shone like flawless emeralds crinkled in a smile as she took half of the stack from him, a nervous hand running over her navy skirt.

"We should head inside," she gestured over to a door with her head, "and find something to put these in."

Link followed her across the airstrip, slightly bewildered. He didn't see any sort of identification on her; no badge, name tag, or even jacket that sported the business's logo. Something he wasn't used to seeing, considering they were on a private runway for the biggest company in Hyrule.

They made their way towards the door, Link noticing the constant glances the girl threw over her shoulder at the handlers loading crates. As he watched her curiously, their eyes met when she glanced back again, a blush creeping onto her face.

"Sorry," she murmured with a small laugh, "I'm just very intrigued. The Faron site has been one of our most profitable yet. The artifacts we've gained have been invaluable to our research, I've never seen anything like them. The- um the.."

She fumbled over her words, voice growing small and cheeks reddening. "I'm sorry, you probably don't want to hear me rambling on about this."

"No, no it's fine!" Link assured her a bit too quickly. Now it was his turn to blush and swallow nervously, "I mean- I can talk about it for hours too," He tried as they pushed past another group of personnel, "I've never seen such, um" He tried to find the right word, painfully aware of the girl's stunning eyes fixed on him, "stunning buildings."

He felt like smacking himself in the face. Stunning buildings? It hadn't been what he was trying to say, but her smile seemed to have a mind-numbing effect on him. Though, she didn't seem to find it ridiculous. Her eyes lit up as they wove their way to the door, bombarding him with questions so fast he could barely keep up.

"You were at the excavation sites? Just how many shrines have you been able to discover? Did you find any guardians that could perhaps still be operational? How has the work been around the Zoani city ruins?"

Link was still trying to find the words to answer even one of her questions when the girl whipped out a badge and slid it over the keypad. The door slid open with a click and the two walked in.

"I'm guessing you've never been to a dig site," Link asked as they ventured down the hall, the girl giving polite nods to the few stragglers they met.

"Unfortunately, no," she told him, her voice growing tense, "I've been in Kakariko doing research."

Link could tell by the way her brows knit together and her shoulders tensing that it must be a sore subject. So he didn't press.

"So, um, you're just visiting Castle Town then?" A part of him crumbled at this. Of course, he didn't even know her, but there was something about her, maybe it was the way she talked or held herself, something that left him wanting to know everything about her. Or maybe he'd been by himself for too long.

"Actually, I just got transferred here," she smiled over her shoulder at him, "and you?"

Link tried to ignore his organs which had decided to throw a dance party, or the fireworks in his stomach sending tendrils of heat that burned his face red. He watched in numb silence as she swiped her badge again, blond hair swaying as she struggled with the manual door.

"Uh- here, let me," Link jumped back to his senses and grabbed the door, "And I just got transferred here too."

She smiled warmly at him as she walked through the door, numbing a few more brain cells. He followed her into the large lobby, nearly bumping into her when she stopped.

"Perhaps then, we can grab some coffee together sometime," she spun to face him, hands gripping onto her papers with white knuckles.

Link stared at her, wide-eyed.

"To talk about the expedition," she added hurriedly, eyes dropping to the floor as she tucked her hair nervously behind her ear, "and since we're both new to the city..."

"I'd love that," Link assured her, "to talk about the expedition, and just to-"

"Oh Hylia! Look at the time." The girl's eyes widened as she glanced at the band on her wrist. " I knew I shouldn't have stopped to see the shipment," she muttered worriedly under her breath. "I have to go," she looked guiltily to Link, "can you handle these papers on your own?"

"Wha- Oh yeah,"

She quickly shoved the papers back into his arms with a flurry of apologies. After one last wave, she rushed back through the door. As the tips of her blonde hair flicked from view a heavy realization crushed Link's happy mood in one fell swoop. He hadn't gotten a number or name from her.

He shifted the much larger stack to a more comfortable position. He could always ask around to find out who she was, it couldn't be too hard considering she was as noticeable as Hylia herself. Reassured, Link headed towards the door to find a cab or bus to take him to his hotel. It wasn't exactly the best reason, but it was a reason to be excited about his stay in the city. He grinned to himself, hope flaring once again. Maybe this move wouldn't be so bad after all. 

A/N 

Lemme just dump this crack fic here heh. This is originally from AO3 but I decided to put it here too. I do have about 5 more chapters all written up and will be putting them on later today or maybe the weekend B)  Welcome to the chaos...

Man I forgot how weird Watts formatting is bahaha